A
People's History of the United States: 1492 to Presentby Howard Zinn
Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, this revised and
updated edition of A People's History of the United States turns traditional
textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices
of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of
all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history
from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.
Addressing his trademark reversals of perspective, Zinn--a teacher, historian,
and social activist for more than 20 years--explains, "My point is not
that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia.
It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality.
But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price
to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization;
Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save
us all)--that is still with us. One reason these atrocities are still with
us is that we have learned to bury them in a mass of other facts, as radioactive
wastes are buried in containers in the earth." If your last experience
of American history was brought to you by junior high school textbooks--or
even if you're a specialist--get ready for the other side of stories you
may not even have heard. With its vivid descriptions of rarely noted events,
A People's History of the United States is required reading for anyone
who wants to take a fresh look at the rich, rocky history of America
- Amazon.comPaperback: 720 pagesHarper Perennial; ISBN: 0060937319; Rev&Updtd edition